‘Fun Police' could head to Northern VA to limit partying

Two Northern Virginia counties are deliberating crackdowns on parties. Fairfax County is considering an ordinance that would ban frequent, large gatherings in private homes, while next-door neighbor Arlington County is debating banning bar crawls.

The Fairfax ordinance would ban groups larger than 49 people from
gathering in a private residence more often than three times in
any 40 day period.

“Over the last several years, there have been complaints from
residents regarding frequent large gatherings at neighborhood
homes. These gatherings can create parking, noise, and other
concerns for the neighborhood,” the Fairfax
County website says.

“Although occasional, large gatherings - such as private
parties, house concerts, religious meetings and social clubs -
are expected and permissible activities at a home, gatherings
that occur on a regular basis involving numerous people can
detract from the residential nature of a neighborhood because
most residential structures and neighborhoods are not designed to
accommodate such events.”

But the ordinance raises concerns about the Bill of Rights’ First
Amendment right to assemble. “Does the Constitution still
apply in Fairfax?”ConservativeHQ
asks. “George Mason, one of the fathers of the Bill of
Rights, must be rolling in his grave at Gunston Hall in Fairfax
County” because of the potential ordinance.

“I believe the county is risking a lawsuit and/or a
[Constitution] challenge by interfering with [people’s] right to
assemble,” Supervisor Pat Herrity said in a statement,
according to Watchdog.org. “This is yet another instance
where we appear to be punishing the many for the actions of the
few.”

Herrity
told Watchdog.org that there were only six complaints about
group meetings in homes in the suburban county just outside
Washington, DC last year. “They haven’t even reached 1 percent of
the thousands of complaints our Department of Code Compliance
investigates a year.”

In urban Arlington County, Police Chief M. Douglas Scott is
looking to limit the number of bar crawls in the popular
Clarendon neighborhood, as well as the number of tickets sold,
the Washington Post reports. There is currently no permitting
process in place for bar crawls that can draw thousands of
people: A St. Patrick’s Day bar crawl drew more than 5,400 people
and led to 45 police calls, 17 fights, 25 arrests, 16 calls for
medica, 105 escorts of the stumbling to cabs and 10 citations for
public urination.

“We could have made many more arrests,” Capt. Brian
Gough said at a community meeting with police on the topic last
week, according to the
Washington Post. He said that a lack of manpower prevented
those arrests, even though there were 51 officers monitoring the
event.

“It’s a logistical nightmare and also a safety concern,” police
spokesman Dustin Sternbeck told the Post. “Who’s ultimately
footing the bill for these officers? Right now it is not the bar
or the organizers.” Arlington police received an additional
$42,000 in the county’s recently approved budget specifically for
dealing with bar crawls.